And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
God's command is to keep His words constantly visible in the home, at its entrances, and in community life. The words to be kept there are the call to love Him with all heart, soul and strength, held in the heart, spoken through all daily life, and kept with all His commandments, statutes and judgments. The writing on posts and gates is figurative for letting the mind dwell continually on what reveals His will, not mere outward display, which the Jews perverted by literal observance while transgressing the law and losing inward religion. Parents are therefore to hold God's words in their own hearts and teach them diligently to their children by word and example, making the home a training place for heaven and a public mark of loyalty to His government. This duty binds God's people in every age as fully as at first, for wholehearted obedience brings life, righteousness and blessing, while neglect and disobedience bring ruin to transgressors and to those they lead astray.
Wording and Historical Setting
The command is to inscribe divine words and commandments upon the posts of the house and upon the gates, keeping them visibly present in the home, at its entrances, and in community life. The writing makes them a constant visible reminder before the family, shaping home life and religious service and marking the home as under divine government.
The words to be so written are the command to love the Lord with all heart and soul and might and mind, kept in the heart, taught diligently to children, and talked of when sitting in the house and walking by the way and lying down and rising up, and bound as a sign upon the hand and as frontlets between the eyes. They include His commandments, statutes, testimonies and judgments commanded to be done, whose diligent keeping is righteousness and brings well-being and mighty increase in the land flowing with milk and honey.
The instruction was given through Moses to Israel after they came out of Egypt and at their deliverance, spoken by Christ the divine Leader enshrouded in the pillar of cloud and fire. It formed the home school in Israel's school system, given because Israel were in a special sense the guardians and keepers of God's law, so that the significance of its precepts and the importance of obedience would be impressed upon them and through them upon children and children's children by teaching and talking of them at home, on the way, evening and morning.
Israel turned the instruction into song and repeated it while traveling through the wilderness, making an impression on parents and children and keeping it as a studybook lest they forget. After settlement in Canaan the divine precepts were to be written plainly upon doorposts and gates and spread upon memorial tablets, with daily repetition in every home, set to music and chanted by young and old, taught by priests in public assemblies, and made the daily study of the rulers of the land. The commandments thus kept before the mind were joined to remembrance of the exodus, the water from the rock, the bread from heaven, and the fall of Jericho, to be kept in memory and passed on to children.
The visible writing at home and at the gate was to keep the people remembering the Lord in the promised land when they ate and were full from cities, houses, wells, vineyards and olive trees they did not build or plant, lest they forget the Lord who brought them out of Egypt from the house of bondage. It called them to fear the Lord, serve Him alone, swear by His name, not go after other gods around them because He is a jealous God, not tempt Him as at Massah, and diligently keep His commandments, testimonies and statutes, keeping them from every false way. It belongs to Deuteronomy 4-8, which set out what God required of His ancient people that they might be a holy people to Himself.
Spiritual Meaning Explained
The writing on the posts of the house and on the gates is figurative language showing that the mind is to dwell continually on the words that reveal God's will. Those words include God's law, with loving God with all heart and soul and strength and loving neighbor as self at their center. The design was never mere literal outward exhibition, but that the words of God be in the heart and inwrought upon mind and character and woven into life and character as genuine religion that regards and keeps the principles of His law. The Jews perverted the requirement by fulfilling it literally while losing sight of genuine religion, continually transgressing the law and covering that neglect with pretentious piety.
The whole chapter is a lesson to be studied, and parents are to understand this instruction and be prepared to speak to their children words that will give them correct impressions regarding the Lord's dealings with His chosen people. This keeping of the words in the heart and making them constantly visible in the home belongs together with binding them for a sign upon the hand and as frontlets between the eyes and teaching them diligently to children by talking of them when sitting in the house and walking by the way and lying down and rising up. The instruction concerns principles of physical as well as moral health.
Obedience to the law thus kept before the household requires refraining from unnecessary labor on the Lord's holy day, and every family member should know the law's requirements and restrictions. Fathers are therefore to guide their children in obedience and keep God's commandments prominent in the home, even as if written on its doorposts and gates and taught throughout daily life. Sending them to Sabbath school for ordinary study or work conflicts with that duty and with keeping the Sabbath holy.
Love Obedience and Blessing
Loving the Lord with all heart and soul and might is the first of the two great principles of the law on which hang all the law and the prophets. This wholehearted devotion with whole heart, soul, strength and mind is to shape daily life and be kept before the household, and it is not lowered under the gospel but remains the standard of character and the way of life. That supreme love to God involves all other requirements, so that those who keep the first four commandments will not transgress the other six.
Keeping and diligently doing the commandments, statutes, judgments and testimonies brings well-being and mighty increase in the land flowing with milk and honey. Observing to do them is righteousness, bringing good always and preservation of life, and obedience to the specified statutes brings the richest blessings with positive assurance. The design in the command was to establish Israel in Canaan as a pure, happy and healthful people with not one feeble one in all their tribes, keeping them in the favor and love of God and building them up in righteousness and truth so He could bless them safely.
To the disobedient there are no promises and no blessings but the threatenings of the Lord. God cannot take the disobedient to His kingdom nor to the City of God, because there would be a second rebellion in heaven. Turning from God's law brings destruction not only to the transgressor but also to others led astray by that influence, and neglect and disobedience cause transgression to be passed on to succeeding generations. Carrying out the Word to all intents and purposes therefore requires surrendering the heart's affections to God, valuing His words above all, refusing negligence, and educating children to right principles as Abraham commanded his household after him.
Had fathers and mothers followed this direction, sins and crimes by adults and by youth and children would not exist. Instead, disregard and neglect to train children to respect and honor the holy commandments, with religious teachers failing to present the holy standard and men erecting their own standard and dishonoring the law, produces the evil condition of society and widespread iniquity that makes the days like the days of Noah and Lot. Departing from loyalty and transgressing the laws of His kingdom reacts upon men themselves in lawlessness, discord, hatred, strife and violence.
Obedience to these directions maintains the people's relationship with God and brings His promised blessings in daily life. The command was given to Moses for Israel at their deliverance from Egypt because Satan hoped to make the working of miracles the test of faith. It applies now because Satan can through deceptions perform wonders that appear to be genuine miracles, so faith must rest on God's Word constantly kept in the heart and before the mind and life, not on miracles as the test.
Teaching Children at Home
Parents are to keep God's words in the heart and teach them diligently to children by word and by consecrated example, speaking of them continually in ordinary daily life in the house and by the way. The commandments are to be kept constantly before the household, written on the posts of the house and on the gates, so that God's instruction becomes a visible, continuing part of family life and a constant guide wherever the household lives and enters. The home is thus made a place for educating and training children for heaven, shaping household life by God's law so the family respects and obeys the Lord and remains distinct from the world. Israel turned this household instruction into song and repeated it while traveling through the wilderness, making an impression on parents and children.
Parents are to give children knowledge of God, His law and the Scriptures from their earliest years and very infancy, and to keep Christ's teaching before them throughout their upbringing. They are to control themselves for the sake of their Creator and Redeemer and train their children from infancy to form characters meeting God's approval, taking every precaution against objectionable traits of character. That training is in piety, virtue and godliness revealed in the home life, preparing parents and children for the present and the future life so they will be admitted into the city of God. Turning from God's law brings destruction not only to the transgressor but to others led astray by that influence.
Religion must be woven into every part of home life in order to see the results God designed as the fruit of following His way. That fruit includes modesty and humility in children, in opposition to pride, self-esteem and boldness. It stands likewise in opposition to parents and teachers displaying the ability and proficiency of their children and scholars.
Writing the commandments on houseposts and gates is the model for displaying God's requirements where they can be seen and teach those who encounter them. So displayed, obedience becomes part of daily life and publicly marks the home as belonging to His government. Parents are to train their children at home to know God and His requirements, and ministers and instructors are to voice that home instruction of Moses throughout the land.
Studying and practicing the commandments helps distinguish truth from error. God's people are to love and fear Him, obey His commands, and not turn aside from His Word to suit their own pleasure. Parents must have God's words and commandments in the heart and teach them diligently to children at all times, in the house and by the way, night and morning, kept constantly before them and set upon the home itself, which is the same instruction given to Israel through Moses and to the lawyer who asked about eternal life when the commandments from Sinai were rehearsed. They are to teach their children to obey and reverence God's law rather than listening to ministers and teachers who say the commandments are not obligatory, for obeying this plain word is a life-or-death question where obedience means life and disobedience means death.
Present Application and Warning
The charge to inscribe divine words on house posts and gates was given by Christ through Moses to Israel before He took humanity, commanding parents to teach children to obey God's commandments, with the truth to be presented from His Word. It belongs with keeping those words in the heart, teaching them diligently to children, talking of them continually when sitting in the house and walking by the way and lying down and rising up, and keeping them as a constant sign on the hands and before the eyes. It commands keeping God's teaching continually before His people and passing it on through daily life. This responsibility applies to God's people in every age. It is just as essential now as it was then and must be heeded as diligently by parents today as by God's ancient people. Impressing this parental duty is sacred work learned especially by reading Deuteronomy. Religion must be woven into every part of home life in order to see the results God designed as the fruit of following His way, including modesty and humility in children in opposition to pride, self-esteem and boldness, and in opposition to parents and teachers displaying the ability and proficiency of their children and scholars.
The verse belongs to Deuteronomy 4-8, which sets out what God required of His ancient people that they might be a holy people to Himself. Reading it with those chapters brings profit now and gives profitable preparation for the day of God's great final review, when the people of this world must stand before the Judge of all the earth to answer for their deeds. The present is the time of investigation, when every character will have been investigated and every case decided for eternity. It is included in the instruction to examine God's Word to know whether one bears the King's mark and is set apart to honor Him.
Abundant provision was made in the wilderness wandering to keep the words of the law in remembrance, and after settlement in Canaan the divine precepts were to be written plainly upon doorposts and gates and spread upon memorial tablets. That writing belonged with daily repetition in every home, with the precepts set to music and chanted by young and old, taught by priests in public assemblies, and made the daily study of the rulers of the land. Only as reverence for God's holy word was thus cherished in the hearts of the people could they hope to fulfill the divine purpose and have strength. Had this counsel been heeded through the centuries, Israel's history would have been different.
God's command is to keep His words constantly visible in the home, at its entrances, and in community life. The words to be kept there are the call to love Him with all heart, soul and strength, held in the heart, spoken through all daily life, and kept with all His commandments, statutes and judgments. The writing on posts and gates is figurative for letting the mind dwell continually on what reveals His will, not mere outward display, which the Jews perverted by literal observance while transgressing the law and losing inward religion. Parents are therefore to hold God's words in their own hearts and teach them diligently to their children by word and example, making the home a training place for heaven and a public mark of loyalty to His government. This duty binds God's people in every age as fully as at first, for wholehearted obedience brings life, righteousness and blessing, while neglect and disobedience bring ruin to transgressors and to those they lead astray.
Wording and Historical Setting
The command is to inscribe divine words and commandments upon the posts of the house and upon the gates, keeping them visibly present in the home, at its entrances, and in community life. The writing makes them a constant visible reminder before the family, shaping home life and religious service and marking the home as under divine government.
The words to be so written are the command to love the Lord with all heart and soul and might and mind, kept in the heart, taught diligently to children, and talked of when sitting in the house and walking by the way and lying down and rising up, and bound as a sign upon the hand and as frontlets between the eyes. They include His commandments, statutes, testimonies and judgments commanded to be done, whose diligent keeping is righteousness and brings well-being and mighty increase in the land flowing with milk and honey.
The instruction was given through Moses to Israel after they came out of Egypt and at their deliverance, spoken by Christ the divine Leader enshrouded in the pillar of cloud and fire. It formed the home school in Israel's school system, given because Israel were in a special sense the guardians and keepers of God's law, so that the significance of its precepts and the importance of obedience would be impressed upon them and through them upon children and children's children by teaching and talking of them at home, on the way, evening and morning.
Israel turned the instruction into song and repeated it while traveling through the wilderness, making an impression on parents and children and keeping it as a studybook lest they forget. After settlement in Canaan the divine precepts were to be written plainly upon doorposts and gates and spread upon memorial tablets, with daily repetition in every home, set to music and chanted by young and old, taught by priests in public assemblies, and made the daily study of the rulers of the land. The commandments thus kept before the mind were joined to remembrance of the exodus, the water from the rock, the bread from heaven, and the fall of Jericho, to be kept in memory and passed on to children.
The visible writing at home and at the gate was to keep the people remembering the Lord in the promised land when they ate and were full from cities, houses, wells, vineyards and olive trees they did not build or plant, lest they forget the Lord who brought them out of Egypt from the house of bondage. It called them to fear the Lord, serve Him alone, swear by His name, not go after other gods around them because He is a jealous God, not tempt Him as at Massah, and diligently keep His commandments, testimonies and statutes, keeping them from every false way. It belongs to Deuteronomy 4-8, which set out what God required of His ancient people that they might be a holy people to Himself.
Spiritual Meaning Explained
The writing on the posts of the house and on the gates is figurative language showing that the mind is to dwell continually on the words that reveal God's will. Those words include God's law, with loving God with all heart and soul and strength and loving neighbor as self at their center. The design was never mere literal outward exhibition, but that the words of God be in the heart and inwrought upon mind and character and woven into life and character as genuine religion that regards and keeps the principles of His law. The Jews perverted the requirement by fulfilling it literally while losing sight of genuine religion, continually transgressing the law and covering that neglect with pretentious piety.
The whole chapter is a lesson to be studied, and parents are to understand this instruction and be prepared to speak to their children words that will give them correct impressions regarding the Lord's dealings with His chosen people. This keeping of the words in the heart and making them constantly visible in the home belongs together with binding them for a sign upon the hand and as frontlets between the eyes and teaching them diligently to children by talking of them when sitting in the house and walking by the way and lying down and rising up. The instruction concerns principles of physical as well as moral health.
Obedience to the law thus kept before the household requires refraining from unnecessary labor on the Lord's holy day, and every family member should know the law's requirements and restrictions. Fathers are therefore to guide their children in obedience and keep God's commandments prominent in the home, even as if written on its doorposts and gates and taught throughout daily life. Sending them to Sabbath school for ordinary study or work conflicts with that duty and with keeping the Sabbath holy.
Love Obedience and Blessing
Loving the Lord with all heart and soul and might is the first of the two great principles of the law on which hang all the law and the prophets. This wholehearted devotion with whole heart, soul, strength and mind is to shape daily life and be kept before the household, and it is not lowered under the gospel but remains the standard of character and the way of life. That supreme love to God involves all other requirements, so that those who keep the first four commandments will not transgress the other six.
Keeping and diligently doing the commandments, statutes, judgments and testimonies brings well-being and mighty increase in the land flowing with milk and honey. Observing to do them is righteousness, bringing good always and preservation of life, and obedience to the specified statutes brings the richest blessings with positive assurance. The design in the command was to establish Israel in Canaan as a pure, happy and healthful people with not one feeble one in all their tribes, keeping them in the favor and love of God and building them up in righteousness and truth so He could bless them safely.
To the disobedient there are no promises and no blessings but the threatenings of the Lord. God cannot take the disobedient to His kingdom nor to the City of God, because there would be a second rebellion in heaven. Turning from God's law brings destruction not only to the transgressor but also to others led astray by that influence, and neglect and disobedience cause transgression to be passed on to succeeding generations. Carrying out the Word to all intents and purposes therefore requires surrendering the heart's affections to God, valuing His words above all, refusing negligence, and educating children to right principles as Abraham commanded his household after him.
Had fathers and mothers followed this direction, sins and crimes by adults and by youth and children would not exist. Instead, disregard and neglect to train children to respect and honor the holy commandments, with religious teachers failing to present the holy standard and men erecting their own standard and dishonoring the law, produces the evil condition of society and widespread iniquity that makes the days like the days of Noah and Lot. Departing from loyalty and transgressing the laws of His kingdom reacts upon men themselves in lawlessness, discord, hatred, strife and violence.
Obedience to these directions maintains the people's relationship with God and brings His promised blessings in daily life. The command was given to Moses for Israel at their deliverance from Egypt because Satan hoped to make the working of miracles the test of faith. It applies now because Satan can through deceptions perform wonders that appear to be genuine miracles, so faith must rest on God's Word constantly kept in the heart and before the mind and life, not on miracles as the test.
Teaching Children at Home
Parents are to keep God's words in the heart and teach them diligently to children by word and by consecrated example, speaking of them continually in ordinary daily life in the house and by the way. The commandments are to be kept constantly before the household, written on the posts of the house and on the gates, so that God's instruction becomes a visible, continuing part of family life and a constant guide wherever the household lives and enters. The home is thus made a place for educating and training children for heaven, shaping household life by God's law so the family respects and obeys the Lord and remains distinct from the world. Israel turned this household instruction into song and repeated it while traveling through the wilderness, making an impression on parents and children.
Parents are to give children knowledge of God, His law and the Scriptures from their earliest years and very infancy, and to keep Christ's teaching before them throughout their upbringing. They are to control themselves for the sake of their Creator and Redeemer and train their children from infancy to form characters meeting God's approval, taking every precaution against objectionable traits of character. That training is in piety, virtue and godliness revealed in the home life, preparing parents and children for the present and the future life so they will be admitted into the city of God. Turning from God's law brings destruction not only to the transgressor but to others led astray by that influence.
Religion must be woven into every part of home life in order to see the results God designed as the fruit of following His way. That fruit includes modesty and humility in children, in opposition to pride, self-esteem and boldness. It stands likewise in opposition to parents and teachers displaying the ability and proficiency of their children and scholars.
Writing the commandments on houseposts and gates is the model for displaying God's requirements where they can be seen and teach those who encounter them. So displayed, obedience becomes part of daily life and publicly marks the home as belonging to His government. Parents are to train their children at home to know God and His requirements, and ministers and instructors are to voice that home instruction of Moses throughout the land.
Studying and practicing the commandments helps distinguish truth from error. God's people are to love and fear Him, obey His commands, and not turn aside from His Word to suit their own pleasure. Parents must have God's words and commandments in the heart and teach them diligently to children at all times, in the house and by the way, night and morning, kept constantly before them and set upon the home itself, which is the same instruction given to Israel through Moses and to the lawyer who asked about eternal life when the commandments from Sinai were rehearsed. They are to teach their children to obey and reverence God's law rather than listening to ministers and teachers who say the commandments are not obligatory, for obeying this plain word is a life-or-death question where obedience means life and disobedience means death.
Present Application and Warning
The charge to inscribe divine words on house posts and gates was given by Christ through Moses to Israel before He took humanity, commanding parents to teach children to obey God's commandments, with the truth to be presented from His Word. It belongs with keeping those words in the heart, teaching them diligently to children, talking of them continually when sitting in the house and walking by the way and lying down and rising up, and keeping them as a constant sign on the hands and before the eyes. It commands keeping God's teaching continually before His people and passing it on through daily life. This responsibility applies to God's people in every age. It is just as essential now as it was then and must be heeded as diligently by parents today as by God's ancient people. Impressing this parental duty is sacred work learned especially by reading Deuteronomy. Religion must be woven into every part of home life in order to see the results God designed as the fruit of following His way, including modesty and humility in children in opposition to pride, self-esteem and boldness, and in opposition to parents and teachers displaying the ability and proficiency of their children and scholars.
The verse belongs to Deuteronomy 4-8, which sets out what God required of His ancient people that they might be a holy people to Himself. Reading it with those chapters brings profit now and gives profitable preparation for the day of God's great final review, when the people of this world must stand before the Judge of all the earth to answer for their deeds. The present is the time of investigation, when every character will have been investigated and every case decided for eternity. It is included in the instruction to examine God's Word to know whether one bears the King's mark and is set apart to honor Him.
Abundant provision was made in the wilderness wandering to keep the words of the law in remembrance, and after settlement in Canaan the divine precepts were to be written plainly upon doorposts and gates and spread upon memorial tablets. That writing belonged with daily repetition in every home, with the precepts set to music and chanted by young and old, taught by priests in public assemblies, and made the daily study of the rulers of the land. Only as reverence for God's holy word was thus cherished in the hearts of the people could they hope to fulfill the divine purpose and have strength. Had this counsel been heeded through the centuries, Israel's history would have been different.